![\"Steamtown\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/img_5303.webp\")
<\/a>Steamtown\u2019s Baldwin Locomotive Works No. 26 under steam on the park turntable in Scranton. Illustrative photo. Photo: National Park Service.<\/p>\nThe park says the weekend honors its own 40th anniversary as a unit of the National Park Service, the 200th anniversary of the start of railroading in the United States, and the country\u2019s 250th, according to Steamtown National Historic Site<\/a>. The Lackawanna County Convention and Visitors Bureau lists a fourth, the 110th anniversary of the Park Service itself. Trains Magazine, reporting the same announcement, instead tied the milestone to the 2027 bicentennial of the Baltimore & Ohio. Admission and parking are free. Yard rides cost $6 for visitors ages 6 and older and $1 for children ages 0\u20135. Some advance tickets are due to go on sale online on Aug. 26, while the opening ceremony is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 4.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss\u2026 Union Pacific Big Boy Tour Ends in Cheyenne<\/a><\/p>\n Steamtown Railfest 2026 puts No. 26 on a 1,472-service-day deadline<\/p>\n The feature engine is Baldwin Locomotive Works No. 26, a 0-6-0 switcher built in 1929 and billed as \u201cNo. 26 in \u201926.\u201d It is assigned to Railfest yard shuttles across all three days.<\/p>\n That assignment has a clock on it. Superintendent Jeremy Komasz said the park\u2019s restoration of Meadow River Lumber Company Shay No. 1 matters because No. 26 comes due for a federally mandated 1,472-service-day inspection at the end of 2027, Railfan & Railroad reported<\/a>. Shop crews began the Shay work quietly in 2024 and expect it under steam by the end of 2027 \u2014 an engine a 1991 study commissioned by the Park Service had written off for static display.<\/p>\n Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4012, the park\u2019s best-known machine, has stood as a static exhibit for decades and is listed for cab tours rather than operating service during Railfest.<\/p>\n Steamtown Railfest 2026 brings in other operators\u2019 equipment<\/p>\n Coming from Delaware and Lackawanna Railroad Norfolk Southern Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad Port Jervis Railroad Museum and TOYX Not named by the park The Union Pacific Railroad Museum is sending its traveling exhibit All Set for the West, on the relationship between the railroads and the national parks. The park does not identify who built the No. 119 replica, and says further equipment is still being confirmed.<\/p>\n 111,000 visitors set the bar Railfest 2026 has to clear<\/p>\n Steamtown counted more than 111,000 visitors between June 15 and the morning of July 1, when Big Boy No. 4014 stood alongside No. 4012 \u2014 against 60,844 for all of calendar 2025, park ranger Megan Stevens said, according to WVIA<\/a>. The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce put the regional economic effect at $16 million to $17 million.<\/p>\n No. 4014 has since finished its tour and gone home. What Railfest 2026 tests is whether the audience it drew returns for a festival centered on a single 0-6-0.<\/p>\n News on railway transport, industry, and railway technologies from Railway Supply<\/a> that you might have missed:<\/p>\n
\nEquipment
\nNote<\/p>\n
\nNickel Plate PA No. 190
\nWith City of Lima sleeper and three diesels<\/p>\n
\nDelaware & Hudson heritage unit No. 1080
\nMore equipment still in the works<\/p>\n
\nPlymouth 10-ton switcher, US Army No. 1050
\nRunning demonstrations<\/p>\n
\nConrail caboose No. 22130, boxcar No. 368191
\nBoxcar was here for the 1995 grand opening<\/p>\n
\nHalf-scale Union Pacific No. 119 replica
\nFirst public debut<\/p>\n